Copyright metaphors

[David Mertz, Ph.D.]

|> [copyright contract] is an extremely *bad* metaphor,
|> one that does far more to conceal what's going on than reveal.

Paul Rubin <phr-n2002b at NOSPAMnightsong.com> wrote previously:
|Is it a worse metaphor than "the copyright bargain"?  That phrase has
|been around for decades or centuries and is generally considered apt.

Hmmm... however many decades or centuries, I've never read that specific
phrase before this thread.  I do have a Ph.D. in social philosophy, and
have read moderately widely in legal opinions.  But I'm sure you're
right that someone has used it (and have a particular interest in recent
trends in abusive extension of IP law).

I don't particularly -like- the metaphor of "copyright bargain," but it
feels a lot less deceptive than is the contract metaphor.  Would you
like the phrase "taxation bargain?"  That seems a bit similar--states
impose mandatory tax obligations, at least nominally in "exchange" for
the provision of various services to citizens and residents.  I still
kinda think of a bargain as something that people actually agree to...
but the word is more vague than 'contract', so I can kinda "get" the
word 'bargain'.

|I have a worse problem with "IP" than with "copyright bargain".  The
|copyright bargain is one that society (through its elected legislature)
|supposedly made with authors.  The current problem is that the legislature
|acted in the interests of lobbyists rather than the electorate.

I quite agree with Paul Rubin here.  I don't like to use "IP" without
the scare quotes (although I only added them the first time, not each
subsequent time, in my prior post).  And of course I am sickened by the
way that Disney &Co outright purchased the "Mickey Mouse Protection
Act."

But I don't agree that copyrights were ever ethically defensible to
start with; nor that they ever "advanced the progress of arts and
science" as the US Constitution allows (as a limited possibility).  Then
again, I'm also not such a fan of slavery, which the US Constitution
also enshrined.... both for pretty much the same reasons.

--
mertz@  | The specter of free information is haunting the `Net!  All the
gnosis  | powers of IP- and crypto-tyranny have entered into an unholy
.cx     | alliance...ideas have nothing to lose but their chains.  Unite
        | against "intellectual property" and anti-privacy regimes!
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